


among angels

by jjokkiri



Series: monsta x bingo (winter 2017) [2]
Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: ???? - Freeform, Fluff, M/M, Monsta X Bingo, Soldiers, Soulmates, War, mentions of questionable practices of fire and skin, mentions of wounds/injuries/blood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-04
Updated: 2017-02-04
Packaged: 2018-09-21 21:10:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9566516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jjokkiri/pseuds/jjokkiri
Summary: One of the battlefield nurses just might be Hoseok’s soulmate, but he might not live long enough to find out.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the _War AU_ square for [Monsta X Bingo](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/MXbingo/profile).

 

“Are you an angel?”

“I’m just a nurse,” the young man replied, lips curling into a small smile as he wrapped bandages around the newly disinfected wound on Hoseok’s arm. It’s amazing that anyone could smile in a time of war, but the soldier found himself in awe at the way the nurse’s lips curved; he’s pretty.

It was also hard to find people around his age, and Hoseok swore that there was no way that the nurse tending to his wounds could have been very much older than him, if at all. The pretty brunet’s brows furrowed in concentration, though the smile remained on his lips, amusement twinkling in his eyes. Hoseok takes a breath, because it’s hard to find anything _beautiful_ in times of war.

There wasn’t a way to tell when his last breath would be, and Hoseok liked to appreciate every passing second of his life like it was his last——because it might just be. He recorded every passing moment in his mind; painted portraits with his imagination and swore to never let the memories fade. His mother always told him that with a mind like that, he could do anything and everything amazing; a creative, sentimental mind——he was like his grandmother, she’d said. An artist, in mindset.

If he were born and raised in another era, then maybe his mindset would find itself at ease for something more elegant——a better career; something less bloody and more beautiful. Something that was less of pulling triggers on enemies and staring at bloodstained palms in the middle of the night, when he couldn’t fall asleep. His family had told him, before he joined the army, that he was much too kind hearted to kill anyone——they’d been wrong. Simply because Hoseok’s heart was where defending his loved ones resided, but he’d been happy to remember that they thought of him in a brighter light.

On the battlefield, everything was different.

Joining the military had been the moment he’d decided to give up his belief in the stories about the marks on their bodies told by the villagers they tried to keep safe——stories of hoping to find your soulmate, the one who possessed the other half of their mysterious scars, in the darkest of times, because they were the only light in a universe overrun with fear.

Hoseok decided, when he’d matured and stopped believing in those legendary stories about love, that he’d hand his most sincere apologies to whomever was meant to be his, and protect those who could maybe find love, someday. Those who joined the military at a higher position burned away their scars, covering it with the mark of fire, as to forget that it ever existed. Perhaps, to forget about the fact that they had a soulmate at all. If only for the rest of the world to continue believing it all in peace.

Hoseok’s scar never vanished with the burn of the fire, when he’d been named the next commander and they’d held the lighter to his wrist and he’d sworn his oath of loyalty to the military. He’d forgotten about the idea of soulmates, years ago, even though the mark was still evident on his skin. But, the scar remained faintly tracing its pattern on his wrist, somewhere beneath the angry red mark from the fire. It was still visible to his eye, and if someone were attentive enough to look, then the scar was obvious.

Something about the nurse made him suddenly think about the mark on his skin, no matter how destroyed——just a quick glimpse. He doesn’t know why. But, the injuries weighed his left arm down, and he was unable to lift his arm to glance at the scar. He would assume that the nurse would bandage it up, anyway. The cuts had scattered all across his flesh from the fragments of broken glass he’d fallen into.

The silence sat uncomfortably with him, and his head pounded——maybe, he’d been given a drug to ease the pain. Hoseok parted his lips and exhaled slowly, before he spoke, voice raspy from not speaking for much too long.

“What’s your name?”

“Kihyun,” he simply replied, turning to grab something that Hoseok couldn’t see.

“It’s nice to meet you, Kihyun,” Hoseok replied.

Kihyun laughed quietly and shook his head, “I’ve never heard anyone tell a battlefield nurse that it’s nice to meet them. It’s never nice to meet me, because that means that you’re injured.”

“I’d get injured a hundred times over, if it meant that I could see a face as pretty as yours,” Hoseok replied, easily.

The nurse laughed, again. There was a clear flush on his cheeks, and he hid it behind a cleverly placed hand, “Sir,” Kihyun started. “I’m quite sure that now is not the time to be flirting.”

“Why not?” the soldier asked, eyes glinting mischievously. “I don’t see anything wrong with it.”

“Well, for one,” Kihyun said, “We’re in a nursing tent and I am trying to stitch up your wounds. I don’t even know your name, and you’re flirting with me; it’s oddly distracting, and I don’t want to accidentally stab you with the needle where it is completely unnecessary.”

“Hoseok,” he replied, “My name is Hoseok. And I don’t mind if you randomly stab me with a needle, I’m okay with dying by the hands of an angel, rather than a bullet or something, on the battlefield.”

With a suffering sigh, the nurse looked over his shoulder and flashed a shy, awkward smile at one of the other nurses in the room. “Changkyun, sweetheart, I think you gave him a little too much of that anaesthetic you’ve been so obsessed with.”

“Or maybe, you’re actually as pretty as he says you are, hyung,” the other nurse, Changkyun, answered. “But, it helps when you keep stabbing him with that needle. Minhyuk hyung does better stitching than you.”

“I take offense to that,” Kihyun frowned, and Hoseok mentally decided that he looked so much better while he was smiling, though beautiful regardless of anything. “Could you please go get me some water? I’m going to need to wash this wound off, again. And... Hoseok might like something to drink.”

The younger nurse nodded and vanished from the tent, carefully closing the folds of fabric behind him. The soldier let his eyes flutter shut and he let out a slow exhale, wincing when the nurse pressed his fingers a little too harshly into the wound. Kihyun withdrew his hands with a soft gasp, and a quiet apology——“I hadn’t realized that you had a cut here, too.”

Hoseok hadn’t even noticed the pain, until the small brunet had pointed it out. The soldier raised his eyes to the young man, “It didn’t hurt, until you touched it.” It was meant to be a reassurance that he hadn’t noticed the wound himself, but from the way the nurse’s eyes dropped and his lips tugged into an apologetic frown, Hoseok knows he’d said the wrong thing. Or at least, he’d worded it in a way he hadn’t intended.

“That’s not what I meant,” he tried to amend, his heart breaking at the look on the younger man’s face. “I just meant I hadn’t noticed either.”

Kihyun doesn’t answer him, though. He simply tended to the wounds with careful hands and eyes glazed over with guilt.

Hoseok felt his stomach twisting with disdain at himself, but he shut his eyes and exhaled.

_What could he do?_

 

 

 

“Commander!”

Hoseok called out his response from inside the tent, and a tall boy peeked into the tent, careful eyes scanning the surroundings before stepping inside with a small smile. Hoseok raised an eyebrow, “What is it, Hyungwon?”

“You have a visitor,” Hyungwon, the tall, lanky soldier reported.

Folding up the papers he’d been writing on, to later discuss with the other field commanders, Hoseok shoved the sheets under one of the stray blankets and nodded. “Send them in.”

The folds of fabric opened again, after Hyungwon excused himself and stepped away from the tent and a familiar face peeked into the tent. Hoseok’s eyes widened in pleasant surprise and he arched a brow with a small smile. “Kihyun,” he greeted, “It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

“You’re the Commander?” Kihyun asked, eyes widened in surprise. Hoseok glanced at the jacket thrown on the ground by his resting station and he sighed, eyes running over the crest on the uniform.

He hadn’t seen Kihyun in over a month. And perhaps, that was a good thing, because it meant that he hadn’t gotten hurt enough for him to need to be sent to the nursing tents. It was a perk, but the downsides of it was being unable to see Kihyun’s pretty face. He hadn’t been expecting for the young man to come looking for him, though.

“Yeah,” he breathed, “I guess I am.”

“I didn’t know,” Kihyun said, “You weren’t wearing your uniform when you were sent to me. I thought you were just some field soldier, but I guess it makes sense.”

Hoseok tilted his head in curiosity at the remark, eyeing the brunet with careful eyes, “What makes sense?”

“ _Oh,_ ” Kihyun inhaled, looking away from the older man. His hands were folded together in front of him and it was beginning to make Hoseok feel uncomfortable. He was only used to such behaviour from the group of soldiers he commanded. A nurse was not a member of those troops, and it felt strange to see someone so gorgeous imitate such actions. “I noticed your scar mark when you were sent to me, and I was checking your vitals. I’m sorry.”

Kihyun’s cheeks flushed as if he were admitting that he’d peeped at the older man while he was changing——it wasn’t as deep, but Hoseok could understand why he felt flustered. Those in the military never spoke of their scars, and it was a well-known fact that it was secretive information, if one knew of their soulmate’s identity.

But, Kihyun’s hand was clasped over his own wrist as he spoke and his eyes visibly shook as he avoided Hoseok’s gaze. The commanding soldier pursed his lips, “But, why are you apologizing? You don’t need to. It’s not your fault that it never burned away, completely.”

“Hoseok,” Kihyun started, voice breaking off for a moment, as if he were unsure of if he should be speaking. “Can you describe what it looks like? Your scar?”

The commander froze, “... I haven’t looked at it in years.”

Rubbing his wrist anxiously, Kihyun stepped towards him, voice immediately lowering and he bit his lower lip. Hoseok watched the young nurse’s movements with careful eyes and he furrowed his brows. But, Kihyun pulled his hand away from his wrist and held to Hoseok——a small, whitened patch of skin about the size of Hoseok’s thumb; a rough crescent shape. And it looked all too familiar to the soldier’s eyes.

“Does it look like this?” Kihyun’s voice was quiet, almost as if he were afraid of hearing _no_ for an answer. He’d already seen it, but perhaps the younger man was afraid that it had been a trick of the eye.

Hoseok’s breath caught in the back of his throat.

 

 

 

“Why do you think it never faded away?”

It’s been a month and a half since they matched their scars. Hoseok had forgotten about most of it, save the moment where Kihyun held his hands and told him that it was a terrible idea to fall in love in the middle of a war period. But, finding your soulmate was a dream come true and Hoseok wasn’t willing to let Kihyun go.

“Are you still thinking about my scar?” Hoseok asked, pursing his lips and flicking his eyes over to where Kihyun was sitting. The nurse stood up and walked over to where Hoseok was seated on the floor and he draped his body over the soldier’s, resting his head against Hoseok’s shoulder, comfortably.

“Of course,” Kihyun answered, brows furrowed (and it looked adorable, from Hoseok’s angle——then again, every little thing the younger man did came off as adorable to Hoseok). “I want to know why, when every other commanding officer in the military had theirs vanish so quickly.”  

Hoseok laughed, shaking his head, turning his gun over and ran his fingers traced the edges of the cold metal. They’d never know the answer, but he’d make a guess to satisfy Kihyun’s curious mind. “Maybe, whatever is up in Heaven decided that we were too close together for me to give up on finding you, so it wanted you to find me, instead.”

“Do you really believe that?” Kihyun’s eyes were bright as he looked up at the older and Hoseok’s lips tugged into a small smile.

 _He doesn’t,_ but if it made Kihyun happy, then he thinks that he’d believe anything. The commanding soldier dropped the gun and placed a gentle hand to Kihyun’s cheek, rough fingertips tracing the curve of the smaller man’s smile.

“Maybe, I do.”

 

 

 

“I told you it would be a terrible idea to fall in love on the battlefield,” Kihyun told him, but the way his eyes glimmered with a sadness told Hoseok that he would have been upset to never have met his soulmate. The soldier linked his fingers with the younger man’s and he squeezed it gently, arm coming to wrap around Kihyun’s smaller body.

“That’s okay. I’ll meet you again, somewhere in Heaven, if I don’t make it out alive,” Hoseok whispered into Kihyun’s hair, pressing a gentle kiss to the top of the nurse’s head. “Angels always find their way home; I’ll see you there, if I make it.”

“Make it out alive for me,” the young man insisted, “Promise you’ll come back to me.”

“Kihyun,” Hoseok started, looking warily at the way Kihyun held out his pinky, eyes begging for Hoseok to make the promise. But, it’s a promise he couldn’t tell if he could keep. And breaking a promise to his soulmate, when they’d finally found one another, was far from something he ever wanted to do.

The younger man bit down on his lower lip and lowered his eyes, sadly, “Then, at least promise me that you’ll try your best to stay safe. You can come back to me gushing blood too, that’s okay, too; I’m a nurse, and I can fix it. But... just come back.”

And Kihyun was rambling; it wasn’t something he did often——some instinct in Hoseok’s mind told him that. The worried expression on the nurse’s face only made guilt boil in the older man’s gut. So, sighing, the soldier linked his pinky finger with his soulmate’s and pressed their foreheads together.

_“I love you.”_

“That’s not a promise, Hoseok,” Kihyun’s eyes shook as he looked at him, and Hoseok averted his eyes, unable to look the younger man in the eye.

“I’ll try my best,” he breathed, linking his finger with Kihyun’s, completing the childish promise, “For you.”

“... Thank you,” the nurse smiled, softly. “I love you, too.”

And Hoseok’s heart fluttered in his chest——he’d just have to hope that he’d come back to something this beautiful. But, if he couldn’t keep his promise, in the next life, they’d find one another again, right? That’s how soulmates worked; he just hoped he wouldn’t let Kihyun down, in this life.


End file.
